“Love One Another” 1 John 4:7-12 August 10, 2014 INTRODUCTION

“Love One Another” 1 John 4:7-12 August 10, 2014 INTRODUCTION: For the third time in this short letter, John brings up the topic of love for one another. It would be hard to overemphasize the importance of this to John and to the entire New Testament. It was Jesus, after all, who first gave such emphasis to this area of love for one another. And he spoke most forcefully about it on the eve of his crucifixion. He also spoke about it during the fifty days between his resurrection and ascension. Everything Jesus said should be taken to heart, but I don’t think we are wrong to emphasize those things he spoke about during his last days on earth. John seems to understand that and responds by giving emphasis to this area of love for one another. John makes a statement here that is sure to raise some eyebrows. He says, “Whoever loves has been born of God” (v. 7). Think about that. He doesn’t say what we would expect him to say, that those who are born of God are able to love. He says that only those born of God are able to love. If you see someone who loves, John says you can count on the fact that they are born again. How could it be that only those born of God are able to love? Many who don’t claim to follow Christ enter into marriage and seem to have a genuine love for one another. How many songs, movies and books have been written about this topic? If you think about it, most of them assume that we all know what love is, and never bother to define it. The ones that do attempt to define love often get it wrong. The 1970’s movie, Love Story has the famous statement “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” The actress and singer, Cher, once said, “Men should be like Kleenex—soft, strong, disposable.” In our passage today, John not only commands love, but he defines it as well. We see what love is by knowing the love of God through Jesus. Only by first knowing God’s love can we then love one another. Let’s consider now the pattern and practice of love. I. The Pattern of Love Since this command to love one another is given such emphasis, it is very important that we have a good understanding of what it means to love. What exactly is God asking us to do when he tells us to love one another. God doesn’t leave us in the dark about this. He provides us with a perfect picture of love, and we are asked simply to copy that picture. It is the love of God for us through Jesus. If you want to know what love is, you will need to see the love of God, because “God is love.” It is God’s essence to be a loving God. I suppose there is less disagreement today about this statement “God is love” than any other statement in the Bible. But what does it mean? The mistake so many make today is attempting to understand its meaning without supplying it with any doctrinal content. This passage teaches us of the love of God by using the theological categories of Jesus’s incarnation and his death, which it calls a propitiatory death. If we don’t anchor our view of God’s love in these theological terms, we end up defining God’s love as simply doing for us what we want him to do, without ever finding fault with us. “God, if you love me, you will give me the smooth, easy life I want and you will let me do whatever I want without ever finding fault with me or judging me.” That is not the love of God as John portrays it. When John says “God is love,” he means that in his very substance and nature, God is love. There are three other “God is…” statements in the New Testament. God is “spirit” (John 4:24), “light” (1 John 1:1) and “a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:29). It is God’s essence to be all these things. That means that he doesn’t just do loving things, but that his love shines through in all he does. So when he judges, he judges in love. But since he is a consuming fire of judgment, he is also holy and just in all he does. And since he is light, his love and judgment are always in complete truth. John doesn’t leave us with a plain theological and philosophical statement about the love of God. He goes on to point out that God has made his love manifest. To manifest something is to show it so that it can be seen. God doesn’t show us his love by giving us everything we want, but by giving us what we need, and what we need is the incarnation and atonement of Jesus. These are the two great events John focuses on to show the love of God. Let’s meditate on these events by noticing the way John describes them. “God sent his only Son into the world” (v. 9). When it says Jesus was “sent,” the clear implication is that Jesus had an existence prior to being sent. None of us were sent into the world, but born into it. Jesus has always existed as the second person of the Trinity, fully God from all eternity. Jesus was sent as God’s only Son. That is simply John’s way of saying that Jesus is the eternal Son of God, one with him. And he was sent “into the world.” John often uses this word in a negative sense, to describe this world in its fallen condition or rebellion against God. Consider that for just a moment. It is impossible for us to appreciate the distance between the glories of heaven, where the beauty of God is seen and celebrated, and where there is perfect love within the Trinity, and the ugliness of the earth, with all its selfishness and cruelty. It is such a world that he came into that his own mother was not given the consideration a pregnant mom should be given when she goes into labor. She was put in a stable, so that the Son of God took his first breath in the plainest of settings. It was such a world that his own disciples spent large amounts of time arguing 2 about which of them was the greatest. At the end, they all deserted him. He constantly met with scheming people, who were only concerned about themselves. When he performed the very public miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead, we read that this incident was the one that led to the decision by the leaders that Jesus must die. Why? Because such a miracle would threaten their position as leaders when Jesus’ popularity would grow to the point that the Romans would take notice and come and assert their might once again. Jesus came into a world where selfishness was universal. No wonder John adds the words, “so that we might live through him” (v. 9). Apart from Jesus, we are dead. That brings us to the atonement, which John speaks of again by using this word “propitiation.” It means that Jesus, through his death, satisfied the wrath of God. He did so at a high cost to himself, a cost that was far greater than his own life. Jesus faced the horror of his coming crucifixion in the Garden of Gethsemane, when it sent him into such an agony that the mere thought of it caused him to sweat drops of blood. It wasn’t the physical pain of crucifixion that so horrified him, but the prospect of broken fellowship within the Trinity itself as the Father turned his face away from Jesus. Jesus became sin in our place and he was forsaken instead of us. The result is that now God’s wrath has been satisfied. These statements about the essential nature of God, as love, light and judgment all met at the cross. God’s judgment was expressed in the crucifixion and forsaking of Jesus. His light, or truth, was expressed in the fact that when sin was laid on Jesus, no exception was made because Jesus was God’s Son. Punishment came because the truth was that Jesus was made sin. The love of God is seen in this as we are forgiven and restored. So our hope of forgiveness and cleansing through the cross is not based only on the love of God, but also on the light and judgment of God. For the soul that trusts in Jesus, the very nature and character of God becomes the foundation of our forgiveness. If we are ever to love one another, we must get a vision of God’s great love for us in Jesus. It is a testimony to the hardness of our hearts, and my own included, that we can read and hear of these things and remain unmoved by them. God help us! II. The Practice of Love As we move from the theological foundation of God’s love for us to the practical application in our love for one another, there are three truths I want to point out from the text. The first truth is that love for one another is both essential and impossible. John says, “Whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

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